Apparatus for forming wire hoops.



A. J. SPIGER. APPARATUS FOR FORMING WIRE HOOPS.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 30,1907.

Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

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INVENTOR.

A11 clrzw J. S ic er BY ATTORNEY.

A. J. SPIGER. APPARATUS FOR FORMING WIRE HOOPS. APPLIOATION FILED1330.30, 1907.

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INVENTOR.

A11 rew J. spider. BY

ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

ANDREW J. s'PIcER, or FRANKLIN, INDIANA.

APPARATUS FOR FORMING WIRE HOOPS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 30, 1907. Serial No. 408,546.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ANDREW J. SPIoER, of Franklin, county of Johnson,and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful A paratusfor Forming Wire Hoops and the lhike; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanyin drawings, in which like figures refer to 1ie parts.

The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for forming theends of wires or the like for use in making hoops and the like.

The hoo wire referred to has reversely extending oops formed on the twoends thereof and bent and adapted to interlock to form a wire hoop. Toenable the same to be readily and practicably interlocked, the loop onone end of the wire is formed by bending the end around to the left, andthe loop on the other end of the wire is formed by bending the endaround to the right, and the end of one loop is bent outwardly, whilethe end of the other loop is bent inwardly so that they will cometogether right in interlocking, and will make a tight tie when the loopis formed without much drawing. The loops on the ends of the wire,therefore, are given by the machine their final form as the same existsafter the hoop is formed and in place.

Another feature of this invention is the provision of a plurality ofwire-forming parts actuated by a single means so as to form oppositelyextending loops.

The nature of this invention will be understood from the accompanyingdrawings and the following description and claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of thedevice. Fig. 2 is aplan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail showing in plan the twistingwheels and the rack bar for twisting them, the latter being partlybroken away and one extreme position thereof being indicated by dottedlines. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the upper left-hand part of themachine as shown in Fig. 1, showing on an enlarged scale the means forforming a loop in the wire, said arts being partly broken away and beings own in then positions at the beginning of the operation of the device.Fig. 5 is the same at the end of the loop-forming operation, parts beingomitted. Fig. 6 is a erspective view of the loop-forming wheel andadjacent parts with the wire in I place to be looped. Fig. 7 is a planview thereof showing the wire partly looped. Fig. 8 is the same showingthe loop nearly completed. Fig. 9 is the same showing the loopcompleted. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the ooped ends in theirposition when completed and prior to interlocking. Fig. 11 is a planview of the same during the interlocking of the loops. Fig. 12 is a planview of the loops interlocked.

The machine is provided with a suitable base or foundation 15 that hasat one end a stand 16 in which a short shaft 17 is transversely mounted.Said shaft carries at one end a pulley 18 driven by a belt from somesource of power, and a shaft on its other end carries a driving wheel 19which has a wrist pin 20 eccentrically mounted to which a connecting bar21 is ivoted at one end. At the other end of the ase or foundation thereis a stand 25 upon the upper end of which there is a horizontal table 26upon which the wires 27 are placed by hand for treatment. Said wires areinserted between the guides 127 on the table 26. There are two sets ofguideways 127 in alinement with two twister heads 28 that are eachsecured on the upper end of a shaft 29 carrying gear wheels 30, saidshafts being suitably mounted vertically in the upper part of the stand25.

There are two wheels 30, one for each twister head, as seen in Fig. 3,oppositely located and actuated by a single rack bar 31 movable betweenthem, said rack bar having at one end a slot 32 through which a pin 33in the connectin' bar 21 loosely projects. The length of sair slot 32 isless than the diameter of the path of movement of the wrist pin 20 sothat the connecting bar 21 gives the rack bar 31 movement only at theend of its forward stroke, said bar 31 being withdrawn by a spring 50connected at one end with a bracket 51 and at the other end to said bar31, as seen in Fig. 1, and in the meantime ample opportunity isfurnished while the machine is continuously running for the propermanipulation of the wires. When the driving wheel 19 is in the positionshown in Figs. 1 and 2, it has moved the rack bar from its inner limitof movement, as shown in Fig. 3 to its outer limit of movement. Suchmovement, of course, operates the twisting wheels in oppositedirections.

On the twister head 28 there are two up wardly extending pins and 36 onopposite sides of the center of the wheel 30, and the latter pin 36 hasa horizontally extending arm 37 therefrom at a point above the sur-Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

face of the twister head and projecting at an inclination to a straightline between the two pins 35 and 36 substantially as shown to preventthe upward movement and .esca e of the wire while between the pins andicing looped. The rack bar 31 has suflicient throw to give said twisterwheels about three fourths of a revolution and thus form the loop shownin which the end of the wire is turned around almost against the body ofthe wire, that is against one side of the guide 127, so as to leave aslot between the end and the body of the wire.

After the loop has been formed by turning the end of the wire aroundbeside the body thereof, it is necessary to bend the loops at an angleof about 30 from the horizontal. This'is done while the loop is still inlace on the twisting wheel 30 by an upwar y movable loop-bending bar 40slidable vertically in a guideway 41 connected with a bar 42 that issecured to the front face of the upper part of the stand 25. Theloop-bending bar 40 is moved upwardly by a lever 43 fulcrumed at 44 tothe ower end of an arm 45 that extends downwardly from the bar 42. Theinner end of the lever 43 is slotted at 46 and pivotally connected withthe lower end of the loop-bending bar 40. The lever is actuated by asemicircular bar-like piece 47 that is fulcrumed at 49 in the lower endof the bar 48 that extends down from the bar 42 parallel with and of thesame length as the bar 45. The actuators 47 are connected. by a bar 147that extends across the ath of the rack bar 31 and are actuated byengagement therewith of the outer end of the rack bar 31 as the lattermoves from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 1.

The machine is a continuously operating one, that is, the drive wheel 19and the connecting bar 21 are in continuous movement, the latterreciprocating while the rack bar 31 has intermittent movement at theextreme throws of the bar 31. The wires are put in place on theloop-forming head as shown in Fig. 6 whenthe rack bar is in the positionshown in Fig. 3, the wire lying under the arm 37. As the twisters 30move from the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3, theloop-forming head will be turned gradually to the position shown in Fig.7 and then to that shown in Fig. 8, and further movement will bring theturned end of the wire beyond the position shown in Fig. 9. Then theoutwarc limit of movement of the rack bar is reached, and, as has beenexplained, that operates the loop-bending bar 40 that is forced upwardlyinto the position shown in Fig. 5 to bend the loop at about an angle of30 from a horizontal line. Then the parts of the ma chine are reversedand the wires removed.

One side of the machine makes right-hand loops and the other sideleft-hand loops, and both sides can be operated simultaneously ondifferent wires. After the loops have thus been formed on a number ofwires at each side of the machine, the two bundles of wires areexchanged and put on the opposite sides of the machine, and the otherends of these wires looped, as has been explained. This causes each wireto have right and lefthand loops, and the ends of thetwo loops arereversely bent with reference to each other. The wires when thus formedare ready for shipment in bundles of snitable size to the place for use,where they may be put on barrels, tubs, and the like.

At the place for use the looped ends of each wire are brought togetherso that they will overlap each other. end of each loop is separatedsomewhat from the body of the wire, when the loops are placed inoverlapping position, the body of the wire at each end will slip throughthe slot in the mouth of the loops and then nothing further is necessaryexcept to draw the loops together. This is a very easy and simple wayfor uniting the loops, and this is the result of having the ends of thewires bent on opposite sides of the body of the wire and spacedtherefrom somewhat. loops are bent, when they are drawn together ininterlocked position, they remain in that bent condition and form atonce a tight connection that cannot be lengthened or drawn out so as togive much, when the hoop is driven in place on a barrel or tub.

What 1 claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A ch ne of the kind es r be cluding an oscillatory loop-forming headhaving a pair of pins on opposite sides of the axis of the loop-forminghead, and a guideway in line with the space between the pins, wherebythe wire is inserted between the pins and held in position while the endis being looped.

2. A machine of the kind described, in cluding an oscillatoryloop-forming head having a pair of pins on opposite sides of the axis ofthe loop-forming head, a guideway in line with the space between thepins whereby the wire is inserted and held in position while the end isbeing looped, and an arm extending from one of said pins for preventingthe escape of the wire while being treated.

3. A machine of the kind described, including a pair of oppositelylocated gear wheels, a rack bar movable between them for turning them inopposite directions, a shaft extending from each gear wheel with aloop-forming head on the end thereof, a pair of pins on the loop-forminghead, a guideway in line with each pair .of pins for guiding and holdingthe wires while being treated, and continuously driving means foractuating said rack bar intermittently.

4. A machine of the kind described, including an oscillatoryloop-forminghead pro.-

Since the turned And since the vided With a pin about which a loop isformed on the end of a Wire, means for holding the Wire down while beinglooped, and means for engaging the extreme outer end of the 100 after ithas been formed and bending it against the holding action of saidholding means.

5. A machine of the kind described, including a pair of oppositelylocated gear Wheels, a rack-bar movable between them for operating themin opposite directions, a shaft extending from each gear Wheel with aloop-forming head on the end thereof, a pair of pins on the loop-forminghead, a guide- Way in line with each pair of pins for guiding andholding the Wires While being treated, means for bending the ends of theloops, and

means engaged and actuated by said rackbar for causing the operation ofsaid loopbending means.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presenceof the Witnesses herein named.

ANDREW J. SPICER.

Witnesses:

N. ALLEMONG, W. M. GENTLE.

